


Andalite

by Shorm (Bdoing), Vinnocent



Series: Humanity Is Watching [6]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Firefly
Genre: Alcohol, Domestic Violence, F/M, Multi, Sign Language, Slurs, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 03:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2492078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bdoing/pseuds/Shorm, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jian Seng is pulled over by an Alliance Cruiser, the crew allows themselves to be caught with contraband to cover up the fact that they're hiding Tom. What they didn't know was that they needed to hide Aximili also or who it was that had been looking for him...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Shorm for the Chinese and Japanese translations. Thanks to Alba for Spanish translations. <3

Jake was headed back to his room when he stopped in his tracks at one of the catwalks. Sitting at the edge of the path, about halfway across the cargo hold, was Tom, holding onto the railing with his legs swinging over the side like maybe a kid would do. Jake’s hand went to his gun, trying to think of what to do with it that wouldn’t gain Tom’s attention in all the worst ways.

Tom turned to him, and Jake shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual and non-threatening. Tom regarded him for a moment, then turned back to watching the cows. Careful not to take his eyes off his brother, Jake reached for the nearest intercom. “Captain to whoever the fuck. Tom is over cargo. Please aid. Over.”

Tom gave him an annoyed glance but otherwise didn’t move. Jake stood there for a moment, watching him watch the cows below them. “So…” he said. “Guess no lock is high security enough for you? None that we can afford anyway…”

Tom glanced at him again, even more annoyed. “What?” asked Jake, and Tom started making fish faces at him in what seemed to be a mocking manner. Briefly confused, Jake smirked as soon as the meaning hit him. “Are you saying I talk too much?” he demanded, and he took Tom repeating the action more aggressively to mean that, yes, Tom thought Jake talked his garbled nonsense too much.

Jake couldn’t help it. He laughed. Properly laughed for maybe the first time that month, until he was wiping away tears with the back of his hand. When he glanced back at Tom, his older brother was watching him with a curious confusion and a crooked smile.

It took Jake aback to see it. He started to say “You’re smiling!” then stopped himself. It was clear that Tom couldn’t understand the noises Jake made, only getting annoyed the more he used them. Jake sighed heavily, trying to think of a way to communicate with his brother. Surely, communication was possible. Tom had said “Ident” to him and Rachel. Erek had been able to sign out that－

**Sign!** He snapped his fingers to get Tom’s attention again. He then pointed to Tom before signing the shape of a smile on his face.

The effect was immediate. Tom stiffened, surprised. His eyes widened, watching Jake carefully. Then, slowly, the biggest, most brilliant grin spread across his face.

Then, Tom frowned in confusion again. It took Jake a moment to realize that he was crying, confusing Tom. He turned away quickly, brushing his face with the back of his hand again. “God, what’s taking them so long?” he wondered, reaching for the intercom again.

Which was exactly when the proximity alarm blared to life.

Frantically, Jake motioned for Tom to stay where he was, then ran off toward the bridge. Of course, Tom followed behind at his own pace.

Jake met with Rachel on the stair to the bridge, and they pushed at each other for a moment before Rachel broke ahead, not even taking the time to sneer at him as she ran up onto the bridge. As he raced onto the bridge right behind her, putting those long legs to use, he grabbed her and pushed her into the captain's chair on the other side of the bridge, slotting himself into the space to Tobias’s left. “What are we proximate to?” Jake demanded.

Wide-eyed, Tobias pointed out the window.

Jake looked. “How the _hell_ did you _stumble upon_ a gorram Alliance Cruiser!” he shrieked.

“It just－ It just popped up!” Tobias cried, still gaping in horror at the window. “Outta nowhere!”

“Cruisers don’t just pop up, Tobias!” Jake insisted.

“Hey, if he says it popped up, it popped up!” Rachel insisted, though she looked a bit doubtful herself.

“How?!” Jake demanded. “How the hell does an Alliance Cruiser jus－ Tobias, why are we not moving away?”

Tobias checked his instruments, then threw his hands up and fell back in his seat. “Because they’re pulling us in,” he said.

“We have to eject the cattle,” said Rachel. “Of course, they’ll know at this point, but they can’t prove anything if－”

“We keep the cattle,” Jake snarled. “Tobias, call King and Isthill to the bridge. Tell Cassie to put on the emergency dress and go to Marco.”

“... Emergency dress?” Tobias repeated incredulously.

“In case of emergency, pretend to be Marco’s indentured servant so he can get you out,” Rachel explained. “She’d better not have ‘lost’ it.”

“Can I be asking why we’re not ejecting the cows?” Tobias asked, and Jake motioned behind them to where Tom was climbing the stairs to the bridge. Tobias sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Why do we even buy locks?” he asked as Rachel reached forward to go ahead and relay Jake’s orders over intercom.

Tom slowed as he neared them, eyes watching the window with unmasked terror. Jake reached forward to try to tell him things were going to be okay, but Tom just grabbed his wrist and started pulling him back toward the door. “Hey!” Jake objected, grabbing the door frame and pulling back. “Hey, stop! Tom, we can’t run! There’s nowhere to go!”

Ax and Erek paused on their way up the stairs and exchanged glances. “So… I’m guessing the new lock didn’t work,” Erek said dryly.

“You hear that screeching noise?” Jake demanded, barely keeping his arm in its socket.

The two passengers exchanged glances again. “Yes?” Ax guessed.

“That would be the proximity alarm because we are in proximity to an Alliance Cruiser,” Jake explained. “So much proximity that we are, in fact, being pulled in and no longer have choice in the matter.”

“How the hell did that happen?” Erek wondered. Seeing that Tom was not going to stop pulling on Jake soon, he pulled a syringe out of his pocket and pulled up Tom’s sleeve.

“IT POPPED INTO EXISTENCE! IT IS NOT MY FAULT!” Tobias insisted, and Jake rolled his eyes.

“It did _what_?” Ax demanded.

“Ignore him,” Jake insisted. He turned as Tom’s grip loosened and Tom slouched against the wall. Jake raised an eyebrow. “You carry sedatives in your pocket?” he asked.

“I live on a ship with your brother,” Erek replied as though it explained everything, which it did.

“Well, hold on to that thought for a second,” Jake said, and he turned to Ax. “Do you have papers?” he asked. “For Alex, since I assume there’s a reason you weren’t going by your name.”

Ax thought for a second, then blanched slightly. “I, uh… I think I left it on the other ship,” he admitted.

“Okay, well, congratulations, you’re now Erek King,” said Jake. He turned to Erek. “Give him your papers, then get Tom to that hiding spot we showed you.”

“That’s _under_ the cows,” Erek reminded him.

“Guys, they’re starting docking procedures!” Rachel shouted back to them. 

Jake turned back to Ax and Erek. “Sooner would be better,” he growled. He turned back onto the bridge. “Rachel, go drain your hooch while you still can, and incinerate anything that ain’t strictly legal. We want the cows to be the wrongest thing we got on board.” 

“Awe, man!” she pouted, but she hurried off to obey. 

Several minutes later, Jake, Tobias, and Rachel were gathered in front of the cargo airlock as the doors groaned open to reveal several Alliance officers and several more armed Alliance peacekeeping soldiers. Jake raised an eyebrow at the gold trim on the uniforms. When had they started adding that?

The officers began to step forward, then stopped. They looked over the scene before them, then they looked at each other. Finally, one demanded, “Are you kidding me?” 

“Moooo,” answered one of the cows.

Jake merely shrugged, hands clearly displayed in a non-threatening gesture. “Well, we couldn’t exactly hide them, could we?” he said. “Momma always said honesty was the best policy.” 

“Which is why you took to smuggling?” asked the lead officer, looking entirely unamused. 

Jake shrugged again. “Well, that could have to do with why we don’t talk,” he admitted.

“Is this all your crew?” the officer demanded. 

Jake nodded. “Yes, sir,” he answered. “I’m the captain, this is my pilot and my manager. In the passenger cabins, you’ll find a produce farmer by the name of King. Shuttle One’s rented by a companion, but he don’t really talk to us anymore. Keeps to himself with that servant girl.” 

The officer smirked. “Is that the defense he’s going to use to keep himself from being charged in this?” he asked, gesturing to the cows. 

Jake frowned in confusion. “Sir?” he said.

The officer rolled his eyes. “Do you have your ident cards, registrations, and licenses?” 

“In our pockets,” Jake said, pointing as much as he could while keeping his hands in the air.

The lead officer motioned to his comrades. “You, go get someone to handle the livestock. You two, fetch the companion and his servant. You two, fetch the passenger. You two, with me. The rest of you, comb this ship. I want it searched top to bottom. And when you’re done, do it again.” He turned back to Jake, stepped forward, and pulled the documents from Jake’s pocket. He looked over the papers briefly, then tucked them under his arm. He slid Jake’s card through the reader and scowled. “Jake Berenson, you’re under arrest for livestock smuggling and suspicion of theft of Alliance property of high value,” he said, gesturing for one of the accompanying officers to move forward and cuff Jake. 

He moved on to Rachel, removing the papers from her pocket. He read over them while Jake was pulled roughly off the ship into the Cruiser. “You own the license on this ship, but you’re not the captain?” he demanded. 

“What?” Rachel’s eyes moved back to him. “Sorry, yes,” she said. “Um, Jake’s better at the… captaining than I am. But he can’t have a salvage license, so I own the ship, the license, the business.” 

The officer gestured to the cattle behind her. “Find these on a derelict did you?” 

Rachel lowered her eyes to the ground, forcing deep breaths. “No, sir,” she admitted. 

He tore her license in half. He glanced at his card reader. “Rachel Berenson, you are under arrest for livestock smuggling and suspicion of theft of Alliance property of high value,” he said as the other officer accompanying him moved forward and pulled her hands behind her back. 

“I didn’t know they were Alliance!” she pled desperately. 

He sneered at her. “They’re not.” He moved on to Tobias, removing the ident card and flight license from Tobias’s pocket. He scanned Tobias’s card. “Tobias Matsumoto, you are under arrest for livestock smuggling,” he said, pulling Tobias’s hands behind him to cuff them, then hauling the young man into the Cruiser. 

“Lieutenant Commander Maldonado!” a voice came over the officer’s communicator. He sighed and stopped, motioning for the officers hauling the cousins to pause as well. He pulled his communicator off his belt and asked it, “What is it?” 

“I’ve found King. His file lists him as Han.” 

Maldonado rolled his eyes. “So?” he demanded. 

“I'm not saying it isn't possible, sir, but he is the brownest Han man I've ever met.” 

"Well, which do you think he is?" Maldonado asked impatiently.

"Uh... all of them?"

Slowly, a smile spread across Maldonado’s lips, while the three crew members exchanged glances of confusion. “Wait there,” said Maldonado. He turned back to the cargo hold. “Everyone here with a gun will move now to secure the passenger. You! Run back to the Visser and tell her we’ve found the Andalite.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel sat on the steel bench, waiting silently next to Tobias, clasping his hand tightly because she suspected it was probably the last thing she had left. Both of them looked up when Cassie was shoved roughly into their cell. Tobias raised an eyebrow at her appearance. “Nice dress,” he said.

“I feel like I’m going to burst a seam at any moment,” Cassie said, pulling at the clinging fabric. “And Marco tried to put makeup on me!”

“You poor thing,” Rachel snickered before standing and pulling her into a hug.

“They didn’t take Marco with you?” Tobias asked.

Cassie shook her head. “No, they suspect the ‘we’re not talking to each other for the remainder of this lease’ story is bull,” she said. “So it’s the same old gimmick. Taking Jake and Marco into separate rooms while they hound them about war activities.”

“Yeah, except this time they’ve actually got something on them,” Tobias pointed out.

Rachel shook her head. “Those two are unbreakable,” she said. “They’ll take whatever the Alliance hands them, but they won’t make deals. They won’t give anything up.”

“So what happens when our ship is sold?” Tobias asked, giving her a significant glance. “What happens to the _cargo_?”

Cassie looked around as though expecting to see something else. “Where’s Aximili? Why haven’t they brought him yet?”

Rachel shrugged. “They think he’s an Andalite,” she explained, “whatever that is.”

“They said it had to do with his ethnicity?” Tobias said, confused. “Well, actually, that’s how they knew he wasn’t Erek, but like… the first thing they jumped to was ‘Andalite’.”

“Maybe it’s one of the city-states?” Cassie guessed. “I hear there’s been a few uprisings.”

“What? Still?” Rachel asked. “Six years after the Independent Faction _lost_?”

Tobias shrugged again, eyes on the floor. “I guess when it’s between starving or getting shot…”

“They did think he was dangerous,” Rachel admitted.

Cassie moved away from Rachel and sat next to him. “What are we gonna do?” she demanded. “How do we get out of this?”

“Jake and Marco will think of something,” Rachel tried to assure her.

“And tell us how?” Tobias asked.

Cassie quickly shushed him and motioned for Rachel to turn toward the door. There, a young soldier was approaching them, pulling his keys out of his pocket. “I’m to move you to another location,” he informed them. “Please be cooperative and quiet and follow me quickly.”

They exchanged glances as he unlocked the door. “Well,” said Rachel. “Since you asked nicely.”

Quite a few levels above them, Marco and Jake were sitting at tables in adjoining rooms, the wrists cuffed to the tabletop, and their ankles shackled to the chair legs. There was a plexiglass wall between them, just clear enough that Jake could be fairly certain that it was Marco on the other side but not clear enough to read his lips, were he to say anything to him. He tried to call out to Marco a couple times, but he didn't hear anything back, so the wall must have been sound proof as well.

That or he was being tricked by someone who looked like Marco wearing what Marco had been wearing earlier, which the real Marco would certainly take personally when he found out.

They waited there for what felt like hours, but there was no telling how long it actually was. Then, finally, someone stepped into Jake’s room and sat across the table from him. She was middle-aged with deep crow’s feet and worry lines. Her skin was dark olive, even darker than Marco’s, and her dark, curly hair was highlighted with slim streaks of silver. She wore a fine suit with gold accents which had obviously been made just for her.

And something about her was terribly familiar.

“There’s a lot of fresh food on your ship,” she said before even sitting down. Her voice was accented. Something he'd heard in the Core? No, actually, it sounded like Marco's accent. “Largely meats and wild vegetation. That’s unusual for a business of your kind.”

“Well, we’re salvagers,” Jake said. “We’re used to finding our wares instead of spending money on it.”

“Really, Yaco?” she asked. She set a panel down on the table in front of him, filled with charts and text. “Because according to all other inventories taken of your ship, you tend to subsist almost entirely on protein cubes and vitamin chips.”

But Jake wasn’t listening anymore. All his higher brain functions had come to a screeching halt at “Yaco,” a diminutive of “Jacob.” Only one person had ever in his life called him Yaco, and he was staring at her with an open mouth. Her. Of all people in all the world to walk into his life from presumed death, it had to be her. Now. Here.

He glanced toward the foggy window at Marco’s vague shape while Eva Guerra continued, “Someone told you to be suspicious of Blue Sun food,” she said. “Was it the Andalite?”

Jake turned back to her. “What?” he breathed.

“Did the Andalite forbid you from eating prepackaged food?” she repeated.

“I… don’t know what that is,” Jake said.

“Erek King,” she told him. “He may have also used the name ‘Alan Fangor.’ That’s not his name, though. His true name is Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. And he’s a danger to our worlds. He’s taken a young runaway, Melissa Chapman, under his wing. No one has been able to find her, and her father is very concerned.”

Jake shook his head. “I don’t know these people,” he choked desperately, barely able to pull the lie out from under the screeching hysteria consuming his brain.

“Of course not,” she said with an air of sympathy. “They would have lied to you about the entire thing. It’s what they do. They’re insidious, invasive, changelings… As unbelievable as it may sound, they can even change their faces. Whatever it takes to earn your trust.”

She leaned forward on the table to look him directly in the eye. “Sometimes, when desperate, they’ll even tell you about Blue Sun. About the food. The medical supplies. The water,” she said. “What they don’t tell you is that _they_ are Blue Sun. That’s what an Andalite is. Blue.”

_“So how ’bout you haul your blue ass straight off my piece of rock, and take your shit elsewhere?”_ Loren had yelled at Ax.

Blue… What did that mean? Had Ax and Alan and Melissa actually been the instigators behind Tom? Behind the drugging? But if that was the case… Who would want to win his trust? They were just scavengers, barely scraping by.

He glanced back to the glass wall. They were all scavengers… except for Marco.

“Why would they do that?” Jake asked quietly.

“It’s how they work,” she explained. “They call you a friend, shake your hand. Point out that they have better goods than you. More tech. They help you out of friendship, kindness. They’re not like everyone else; they love you. They’ll learn everything about you, about your needs. They show you the universe and tell you that you can have it… so long as you go through them.

“That’s the catch, Yaco. See, King may have told you about the food and the medicine and the water. What he doesn’t tell you is that the genseed is Blue Sun. The TCM markets and distributors are Blue Sun. The ship you fly in is Blue Sun. The bed you sleep on is Blue Sun. Your sourcebox is Blue Sun. The gorram _Cortex_ is Blue Sun. All the conspiracies they show you are merely a distraction from the fact that they are owning you.”

Jake met her gaze evenly. “Some might say that sounds an awful lot like the Universal Alliance,” he said.

“I know,” she agreed in a conspiratorial whisper. “Remember what I said about their invasion tactics? Why do you think I faked my death? As deep in as I was, I _had_ to break the connection to my family. It was getting dangerous, to know what I know. But, it seems, the danger has come anyway. If you listen to me and then show me all that you know－”

“What do you mean ‘show’ you?” Jake demanded, suddenly suspicious again.

Eva chewed her lip nervously and glanced to the door. “Of course, anything you could tell us would be wonderful, but… with your naivety… there are things that could slip your mind. If you are willing, we have a t-technology to look at your memories directly. All I ask,” she said, spreading her hands, “is your compliance.” For the first time, she glanced pointedly toward the glass wall. “Both of you.”

Jake closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. His potential courses of action were extremely limited and most of them lead to absolutely certain disaster. But did the lack of certainty in this manner make it any less disastrous?

He opened his eyes and faced her, jaw set with determination. “Alright,” he said. “Under one condition.”

She smirked. “A condition?” she repeated. “And what would that be?”

“I tell him,” Jake said. “It comes from anyone else… He sees you without explanation… He’ll lose his shit. And if he loses his shit, he loses his job.”

Eva nodded. “Alright,” she agreed. She stood from her chair, reached forward and unlocked his cuffs, handing him the key so he could undo the shackles on his ankles. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

And she turned away from him and walked back out the door. Almost immediately, the glass wall began to slide up, and Jake knew that he had to work quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations are at the end. Again, thanks to Alba for helping with the Spanish :)

“Um… Sir?” Cassie asked nervously as they followed behind the soldier. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

“But…” Cassie dropped the subject as the soldier handed a panel to a guard and yet again claimed to be transporting them on behalf of the Visser. Whoever the hell that was. He then ushered them into what she was certain was the very same elevator they had rode up on. “But we seem to be returning to the ship?”

The soldier shifted uneasily. He waited until the elevator doors closed, then said, simply, “Yes.”

“Um, can I ask why?” Cassie pressed as the elevator picked up speed to hurry them down to the docking bay.

“No,” said the soldier.

“This isn’t going to work,” a chirpy, feminine voice said from behind them.

All four spun but the elevator still remained populated by only four people. “Melissa?” Rachel called out.

The nowhere voice giggled. “The one and… well, not _only_ , but－”

“What do you want?” the soldier growled.

“I propose an offer, Aximili,” she said cheerfully. “I’ll tell you how to win this round, if you tell them what the game is.”

“If you know the truth, why don’t you tell them?” the soldier countered.

“Because if you’re unwilling to tell them, then they will never trust you. And trust me, you’re going to need this crew.” Suddenly, the elevator came to a screeching halt. “Good lu-uck!” Melissa sang, seemingly dismissing herself.

Rachel and Cassie exchanged confused glances, but, slowly, Tobias eased forward toward the soldier, peering at his face like he was trying to piece together a puzzle. “Ax?” he asked, disbelieving.

The soldier turned to him, surprised. “How did you know?” he asked.

“How did you do that?” Tobias demanded, ignoring Ax’s question. His wide eyes searched over Ax's form for something familiar but found nothing.

Ax turned to look over the group, all staring at him with a mixture of astonishment, confusion, and disbelief. He scowled, his shoulders squared and tensed. “Technology,” he said at last.

“GASP! _Really?!_ I never woulda guessed!” Rachel cried viciously.

“Rachel…” Cassie chastised, but Rachel cut her off.

“Nuh-uh! What Melissa had to say to him makes me entirely suspicious,” Rachel snarled. “You tell us what’s up right now, or you don’t get back on that ship. I don’t care if that screws us over or not. I’m not having a－”

“It’s Andalite morphing technology,” Ax interrupted. “It allows me to become any creature I touch, including a human being, for a maximum of approximately two of your UA Standard hours. Should I surpass that limit, I will be bonded to the new form for the rest of my life, unable to change back or into anything else. A nothlit.”

“Our hours?” Cassie repeated.

“Including a human?” Rachel repeated.

“Wait… nothlit?” Tobias said. “But that’s what you called…”

Ax nodded stiffly. “Your mother seemed to imply that my brother chose to remain in human－”

“ _Aliens!_ ” Rachel shouted, snarling. “That’s your story? Aliens?! At a time like this, you think it’s funny to sell us a story on _aliens_?!”

“No, I do not think it’s funny,” said Ax.

“This is…” Tobias started, but he didn’t seem to be able to think of a conclusion to his sentence.

“Ax, even if you… _think_ that… that what you’re saying is true,” Cassie said carefully. “It’s, um… It’s a lot to take on your word.”

Ax nodded solemnly. “Yes, I understand,” he agreed. “Your society is still quite limited in its knowledge of－”

“Oh my god!” Rachel whined. She faced upward toward where she presumed the elevator’s speakers to be. “Melissa, will you just shoot him with your magical hacking powers or something so we can get on with our lives?”

“No one is shooting anyone!” Tobias objected.

“Look, I know how it sounds, but _he_ seems to actually believe－”

“Now is not the time, Cassie!”

“Can we just－?!”

The building argument was interrupted when Ax lifted his hand into view. Thinking he was asking to be heard, one by one, each of the others quieted. And then something unexpected happened.

He grew another finger.

And then another one.

His skin paled and turned blue while sparse fur began to sprout across the skin of his hand and lower arm. They didn’t get more detail than that, however, as he quickly began reversing the process.

“Is that enough evidence?” Aximili asked. 

Cassie and Rachel gaped at Ax. Tobias’s back hit the wall, and he slid down to the floor. When they turned to him, all he said was, “I’m part alien.”

“There’s more,” Ax told them. “You are not alone.”

“Because there’s more shapeshifting blue people among us?” Cassie asked.

Ax shook his head. “No, because there are Yeerks among you.”

“What’s that?” Rachel demanded.

“It is a small being of mutable shape, though in its default state, it resembles something like your slugs,” said Ax. “It is capable of controlling sentient hosts by entering through the ear canal and enveloping the brain.”

Cassie made a face of disgust and apprehension. “You’re about to say something even more horrible, aren’t you?”

“This ship’s sudden appearance, as Tobias described it, implies it is capable of Z-space travel,” Ax continued. “A technology which is, as far as I have been able to tell, unknown to humans. Furthermore, many of the persons here have openly referred to a ‘Visser’. This is not a rank or role in the Universal Alliance as far as I have been able to tell, but it is one of the primary leaders of the Yeerks. The Yeerks are not simply invading your ‘Verse’... They _have_ invaded it. From what I can tell, your species is on the cusp of domination. And with their poisoned food and medicine, you will happily agree to it.”

“Good alien boy!” Melissa praised happily, and they were all jostled as the elevator began moving again… upward.

“Melissa, what are you doing?” Rachel demanded.

“I told you I had a better plan,” she said. “The humans are going to go back to their cell and wait to be actually released, which they will be, because I’m amazing. Erek is already moving into Ax’s vacated cell to pretend to be a totally human and definitely-not-Andalite Alex Fangor who suddenly has a lot more documentation to him. There’s even a woman in Dundee who will swear on a sacred object of your choosing that she was his school teacher. I will also be doctoring the results of his blood tests. Ax, meanwhile, is going to go further upstairs and prepare to aid Marco and Jake just in case whatever the hell they’re up to goes terribly, terribly wrong.”

“How is Erek going to pretend to be me?” Ax asked. “He does not resemble my human form. That is what caused the suspicion in the first place.”

“It’s cute how special you think you are,” Melissa teased.

－ －

She waited outside, staring at that one little door and ignoring the screaming in her head. At last, her assistant returned with two bottles. She glared at the small creature. “Bottles? Really?” she asked.

It made an apologetic, almost grieved sound, and faced the floor. She sighed and took the bottles in one hand. “I’ll make it work,” she groaned, waving her other hand to dismiss the creature.

She took a deep breath, carefully considering her lies. Then, she stepped up to that door, raised her hand, and knocked. Locked inside her own mind, Eva screamed, swore, and begged. All of it useless. A former Independent corporal and a Companion of rare talent, both suspected of far more than they’d ever been convicted. One little trick, and she’d have all their secrets. Including whether they knew anything about the location of Thomas Berenson, Alan Fangor’s identity and connections, or what had happened to the Kim twins. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as true volunteerism, but she knew from experience that once you had your foot in the door, it became more and more difficult for the host to resist.

The tall, white one, Jake, opened the door. He looked her over with that same uncertainty, but nodded and stepped aside. She stepped inside and closed the door with her elbow. Marco was sitting on the edge of the table, arms crossed, glowering. This did nothing to hide the sharp intake of breath or the widening of his eyes at the sight of her.

“Hola, mi monito,” she said quietly, smiling lovingly. The way she might smile at her own children, if she could do so without endangering them.

A quake seemed to run through Marco, and he looked aside. But she recognized the signs of overwhelming emotion in a human; his fingers gripped his arms more tightly to hold himself together, he pulled his lips into a tight grimace to keep them from quivering, and he blinked quickly and breathed steadily to keep from crying.

“You planning on making a toast?” Jake asked, motioning to the bottles.

She lifted them, regarding them carefully before announcing her lie. “Ah, no,” she said somewhat awkwardly and triggering a slight blush and signs of nervousness. “You see, the technology I told you about… it’s organic. It has to be, to interface with such a delicate organ as the brain. Usually, we take people to a facility for this. But I thought it might be reassuring to you to do this in a private setting. So I had my assistant bring me two samples. It chose to use bottles.”

“‘It’?” Jake repeated, incredulous.

“He,” she quickly corrected. She smiled nervously and shrugged. “My English－”

“Your English is fine,” Marco snarled. She was surprised. Was he actually angry with her? Perhaps he still could not forgive a mother who had willingly disappeared.

He stepped forward and took the bottle from her and peered into it through the dark green glass. “What am I supposed to do with it?” he asked.

“You press the mouth of the bottle to your ear and－”

He snorted. “There’s something moving in it,” he said, laughing like he was mocking her somehow. It set her teeth on edge.

“I told you,” she said patiently, “it’s organic.”

He clucked again and moved back to the table, placing the bottle there before turning back to her and leaning against the edge while his friend watched coolly. She realized that Jake had not talked Marco down for her; he’d warned him. This was them trying to work against her.

She laughed. “What are you doing, mi hijo?” she asked with the smile of someone who was endeared.

That was what it took to break him. He grabbed the bottle again and threw it. She dodged, and it smashed against the wall behind her. He had already moved in front of her. Those prosthetics made him fast. He threw her into the wall by her throat.

“ _Tu_ no eres mi madre,” Marco snarled right into her face, and, deep down, Eva swelled with pride. “Mi madre está muerta.” Slightly less proud now. “ _Ella_ ya no está.” Pride was quickly being replaced by grief, and it was all she could do not to giggle. “Y tus mentiras me ofenden.”

Edriss did giggle. “Okay,” she cooed back at him. She lifted the hand that wasn’t still holding the other bottle, revealing that it was holding a remote control. “Que pena que hayas hecho esta decisión.”

He scowled, confused. She pressed the button. Marco’s ankles gave out, and he fell to the floor while Jake clasped at his ears, shouting in pain as his hearing aids began screeching at him. As Jake was busied trying to pull his hearing aids out while staggered by pain, Edriss grabbed Marco by the hair and pushed the bottle to his ear.

The door swung open. A young soldier stood there with his gun held at ready. She rolled her eyes. “I have it handled,” she told him.

He seemed to hesitate, then he nodded and lowered his gun. “Ma’am, the genetic testing has completed,” he informed her.

“So?”

“They say that the suspected Andalite shows no traces of nanotechnology and there are no signs of cellular reconstruction,” the soldier informed her. “Furthermore, he has now been held with minimal resistance for over two hours.”

Edriss’s scowl deepened. Her fingers tightened in Marco’s hair, even more determined to make something of this. <No, wait!> Eva shouted.

Edriss snarled maliciously and pressed the bottle to Marco’s ear again. She might have noticed the soldier’s hand tighten on his gun, were it not for the distractions of her host. <Please, wait! Yes, okay? Yes, a corporal and a companion would be useful.>

Edriss hesitated. Eva would never admit that fact if she didn’t believe there was bigger card to play. She pressed her to go on.

<They’re useful,> Eva repeated. <But you have plenty of useful hosts and no immediate demand for more. I saw the files you read! You haven’t been entirely mislead! This crew operates in areas that many of Humanity’s allies had been traced to. Rachel Berenson had been close friends with Melissa Chapman before moving out to Aberdeen. Jake Berenson is the brother of Thomas Berenson, one of the missing experiments. Matsumoto’s father is unknown and his own appearance resembled a potential genetic blending; too evenly distributed, too polished.

<Just because you haven’t caught your fish doesn’t mean you have to take the bait in yet. But if you put a Yeerk in them, the Andalites will smell it. And this perfect lure will never catch its fish.>

Edriss considered this, then countered, <If you really believed that would work, there would be no point to suggesting it. It would merely be delaying the inevitable. A Yeerk for your son now or a Yeerk for your son later. You think if I send them out on a goose chase, then I’ll never get them back.>

<That’s not my play,> Eva said quietly. <I’ve learned to stick to simpler plans. It’s hard out there on the Rim. I’m hoping he’ll die before your fish bites.>

Edriss could feel Eva’s despair. The plan was a true one. She’d wish the worst fate a mother could wish on her child, just to keep him free. What a strange species. <Very well.>

Edriss threw Marco aside and walked to the broken bottle. Carefully, she picked up her traumatized comrade and held it to the lip of the remaining bottle, letting it squeeze itself inside. She then turned to the soldier and handed him the remote. “If no _additional_ contraband has been found on their ship, they may be released after paying maximum penalty fines _and_ the dodged tariffs. Only then may you restore their aid technology. Make it clear that another infraction will not result in such kindness.”

“ _Perra_ ,” Marco spat from the floor behind her.

She turned to him, considered him for a moment, then walked back to where he lay, heels clacking across the tile floor until they were in front of his face. “No me espero para verte de nuevo, mi pequeño puto,” she said coolly, before kicking him into the stomach onto his back. “Quizás para ese entonces no serás una decepción tan grande para tu madre.”

She turned then, and left them alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hola, mi monito." = "Hi, Monkey."/"Hello, my little monkey."
> 
> mi hijo = my son; a term of endearment
> 
> "Tu no eres mi madre." = "You are not my mother."  
> "Mi madre está muerta." = "My mother is dead."  
> "Ella ya no está." = "She isn't here anymore."  
> "Y tus mentiras me ofenden." = "And your lies offend me."  
> "Que pena que hayas hecho esta decisión." = "What a shame that you made this decision."
> 
> "Perra." = "Bitch." (Note: This is literal, calling the Visser a she-dog. Usually, "puta" would be used, but it literally means "whore," which Marco would not use as an insult.)  
> "No me espero para verte de nuevo, mi pequeño puto." = "I can't wait to see you again, my little whore." (The note above is what makes the use of "puto" here particularly harsh, in addition to the fact that she's still claiming to be his mother. It's also worth noting that the word has homophobic connotations.)  
> "Quizás para ese entonces no serás una decepción tan grande para tu madre." = "Maybe by that point you won't be a disappointment so big to your mother."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you to Shorm for the Japanese and Mandarin translations and ASL grammar. English translations at bottom.

The soldier poked his head outside the door to make sure the fake Eva was gone, then he turned to them and immediately toggled the switch on the remote. Jake had already managed to dislodge his right hearing aid, and he didn’t hesitate to remove the left one. He turned to Marco, who was checking his responses before getting up on his ankles again.

Catching Jake’s eye, Marco signed, _Are those fine?_

Jake glanced down at the hearing aids in his hand, then suspiciously at the soldier. He dropped them on the floor and smashed them with his foot. _Now most fine_ he signed.

Marco rolled his eyes. They were both taken by surprise, however, when the soldier signed, _Program again maybe been more easy; build new more hard._

Marco and Jake exchanged glances. _Do we know you?_ Jake signed.

 _At ship explain,_ said the soldier, and he gestured to the door.

Marco and Jake exchanged glances again, but they were lacking an abundance of options. “Lead the way,” said Marco, gesturing for the soldier to move ahead.

They followed him down the hall into the elevator. Marco considered attacking the soldier, but even if they were able to take him, they still had a whole Alliance Cruiser to contend with. He glanced across and could see that Jake was making the same calculations, scowling. When Jake met his eyes, he made a show of exhaling heavily and slouching against the wall, showing that he was giving in for the moment. Marco nodded just barely and kept an eye on the elevator numbers.

Eventually, they were guided back toward the dock, where others were waiting inside the entirely emptied cargo hold. Well, entirely except for the cow pies that everyone was awkwardly avoiding. Catching sight of Jake and Marco, Cassie ran forward and enveloped both of them in her arms despite the fact that she, Tobias, Rachel, and Ax were still flanked by two armed guards. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” she exclaimed.

“I got kicked in the stomach,” Marco informed her with a weak grin as Jake moved quickly out of Cassie’s arms to check with the rest of the team.

“Awe, poor baby,” she said. She kissed him lightly on the jaw. “What happened to Jake’s hearing aids?”

“They betrayed us,” Marco said, still holding her tight. “We had to put them down.”

“What?” Cassie laughed.

Jake eyed the soldiers suspiciously as he boarded his ship. “Do I need to sign something?” he asked.

“Just get on board,” one of the soldiers said.

Jake looked the soldiers over carefully as he passed by into the cargo. He turned to Rachel and signed, as surreptitiously as possible, _You first shoot._

Rachel snorted. _They us no shoot_ she said, rolling her eyes. _They aren’t real._

 _What?_ Jake demanded.

Behind him, the soldier escorted Marco and Cassie back inside. “Let’s get out of here before they realize they’ve been tricked,” he told Ax, and Ax nodded, moving toward the controls to close the airlock doors. Suddenly, the two Alliance soldiers that had been standing there disappeared, and Ax was replaced by Erek.

Marco jumped in surprise. “What?!” he demanded.

“Don’t worry,” said the remaining soldier, turning to face Marco and Jake. “I am Aximili.”

“ _WHAT?_ ”

－ －

“Does this make Tobias half-alien?” Marco asked at the kitchen table after Tobias had gotten them back on course and far away from the Alliance, and Ax, back in his usual form, explained what an Andalite was.

Tobias didn’t answer. Instead, he let his head fall against the table. Snickering, Rachel rubbed his back comfortingly.

“So… you’re also an Andalite?” Jake asked, pointing to Erek.

“No,” Erek said, signing along to make sure that he was clear. “I’m a Chee.”

“And that is?”

The Erek they knew disappeared, replaced by a bipedal metallic dog. “Oh my god!” Rachel exclaimed. “Someone on this ship is shorter than Marco!” To which Marco coolly flipped her off.

“You’re a robot?” Jake asked.

Erek’s human visage flickered back into place so that he could return to signing and moving his lips as he spoke. “No, I am an android,” he said. “I am sentient and sapient. ‘Chee’ translates roughly to ‘friend.’ We were created by the Pemalites to be companions for… well, everyone. Anyone.”

“Companion like Marco, or…?” Cassie asked.

“Yes and no?” Erek said. “Mostly no, I suppose. We were not paid for this as it was the reason for our existence. It makes us happy to please others. This did not often involve sexual activities, however.”

“To be fair, less than half of my appointments involve sex,” said Marco. When everyone looked at him, he laughed. “Guys, sex is _not_ complicated enough to entail six years of specialized education.”

“You were saying, Erek?” Cassie said, trying to keep the discussion on the right track.

Erek flustered again. “Well, um, also, there is that where the Companions Guild teaches its members that clients are lucky to be approved for the company of a registered companion, we put others above ourselves. To the point of sacrifice, if we can.”

“And you’re okay with that?” asked Tobias.

“To be honest,” said Erek, “it’s quite a bit more restrained than it sounds. I wish we were able to do more. You see, we must value life above all else. One life is not tradable for another. We can only move to save lives indirectly. We cannot choose. We cannot sacrifice any but ourselves.”

“So my brother…?” Ax asked, frown deepening.

“I could have saved him if I’d had the right equipment and medicine,” said Erek. “I did not.”

“Great. A pacifist,” Jake groaned. “What I always wanted.” Cassie gave him a sharp look of warning.

“So when are we gonna run into these Pemalites?” asked Rachel, leaning dangerously far back in her chair.

Erek’s gaze dropped, and he twisted at his fingers. “You’re not,” he said quietly. “They’re… They’ve been… gone for a very long time.”

Cassie raised an eyebrow at that. “How long of time?”

“Oh, roughly six thousand years,” Erek said, and Rachel fell out of her chair. Cassie and Tobias both hurried to help her, but Jake and Marco and Ax were still gaping at Erek.

“You’re… six thousand years old?” Marco asked.

“Oh, no,” Erek assured him, laughing slightly. “I, personally, am nearly seven thousand years old.”

“Oh! Only seven?” Marco shook his head and stood. “Who wants alcohol?”

“Jake made me throw it out, remember?” Rachel whined from the floor.

“Like I have ever drank the pigswill you ferment in _salvaged ship parts_ ,” Marco said, rolling his eyes. “I’ve got a bottle of ice wine and two bottles of brandy in my shuttle.”

Jake nodded. “Get it,” he said, gesturing for Marco to go on.

“ _Wine_?” Rachel whined. “You drink like a old person.”

“Well, you can just keep listening to aliens sober then,” Marco called back.

“Let me just make sure I’m clear on everything,” Jake said, turning back to the two at the head of the table. “You－” He pointed at Ax. “-- are a biological alien called an Andalite. Which shifts shape for only two hours via technology that changes your DNA into DNA you’ve absorbed from other people.”

“Or creatures,” explained Ax. “I could be any animal, sentient or non-sentient.”

“Well, that’s not creepy at all,” Jake muttered. He pointed to Erek. “And you are a mechanical alien, but still a person, called a Chee, which really just means friend. And you change shape through－”

“A highly advanced combination of hologram and force-field,” Erek explained.

“And you’re not Tobias’s grandpa or anything, are you?” Jake asked.

“Baka da yo,” Tobias groused.

“Uh… no,” said Erek, looking slightly flustered and mildly annoyed. “We don’t… That’s not how…”

“Yeah, I figured that out from the…” Jake gestured to Erek’s entire person. “It was a joke,” he explained.

“Right,” Erek said awkwardly. “Yes, of course.”

Jake sighed heavily and leaned back, crossing his arms. “So why _Jian Seng_?” he asked. “Why did you two decide to involve us?”

Ax and Erek exchanged confused glances. “I think you misunderstand, Captain Berenson,” said Ax. “This was a genuine coincidence.”

“I really did just want to travel away from my family for a while and was convinced by Marco to board this ship,” said Erek.

“And I spent _cycles_ looking for my brother,” said Ax. “I had no way of knowing you would briefly employ him. I still don’t know what he was doing out here.”

“You mean besides Ms. Matsumoto?” Marco teased, returning with four bottles of wine despite the fact that he had claimed to own three. He ignored Tobias’s swears and handed him a wine the color of blood. He gave another to Rachel, one to Jake, and kept the ice wine for himself.

“Okay, let’s talk about that,” said Rachel. “What’s Alan’s story?”

Ax shrugged again. “It is as I told Tobias before,” he said. “Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul was a cadet, an aristh, in our military. I know he was unhappy because he had been assigned to War Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass, who is a joke. Alloran was responsible for the loss of the Hork-Bajir homeworld to the Yeerks.”

“The Yeerks inside the Alliance and Blue Sun?” asked Cassie.

Ax nodded. “Yes,” he said. “We Andalites have been at war with them for some time now. They are a plague on the galaxy. And seems that they have reached your arm. We do not know what happened to my brother’s mission. There had been reports of another aristh, Arbron, on the Taxxon homeworld, but it was never substantiated. I met a trader who had claimed to have seen an Andalite in an uncharted area which he called ‘Human Space.’”

“The Verse?” Tobias asked.

Ax nodded. “I thought he was teasing me, but then… Then the report came in of Visser Three, our greatest shame, but also our greatest mystery. We still have no idea what happened to that mission, but, somehow, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass fell into Yeerk hands,” he explained. “It is at that point that I knew there might have been something to the story. Perhaps the trader had only seen Alloran. But… perhaps he had seen my brother. It was a risk I was more than willing to take.

“It took some conniving, but I was able to escape the gaze of the military long enough to hitchhike my way out of Andalite Space. I took passage with any trade ship that knew of Human Space. I eventually got close enough to acquire several humans, blending their genetics into a new morph.”

“That’s why Alan looked the way he did,” Tobias said, and Ax nodded.

“I spent some time among humans, but if I preferred to travel among the few ‘aliens’ among you. They have many hiding spaces on the un-terraformed worlds of the Rim and similar spaces. I was on one such ship when it was attacked by these ‘Reavers’ of yours, and you were eventually able to save me.”

“Which is why we didn’t recognize the class,” Tobias realized, and Ax nodded again.

“So what is this Yeerk thing?” Jake asked.

“As I explained to Tobias and Rachel and Cassie,” Ax said, “Yeerks are small creatures, naturally, similar to your slugs. However, they are highly adaptive and have the unique ability to network their neurons to those of other beings. In creatures where there is a passage to the brain, such as the ear canal in humans, Gedd, Hork-Bajir, and Andalites, they are able to squeeze themselves through, wrap themselves around the brain, and take control of the host body and－”

Marco interrupted by slamming his bottle down on the table. “Did you just say ‘host body’?” he demanded in a slow snarl. Next to him, Jake tensed and put his bottle down, too.

Ax blinked at him in surprise. “Yes,” he said. “I thought that was clear. They must steal bodies to－”

“ _People_!” Marco corrected. “They’re using actual people?! Not morphs, not holograms, not clones－”

“No one has the ability to morph except Andalites,” said Ax. “And, of course, Visser Three, as he is-.”

“Visser Three?” Marco exploded, bursting to his feet so suddenly that his chair toppled, and Jake was right up after him, barely grabbing him in time to keep him from taking a swing at a startled Ax. “Who cares about Visser fucking Three?!” he continued shouting, trying to pull away from Jake. “That was her! That was actually her! And you just let me leave?!”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Jake said, pulling Marco back toward the door, as Cassie hurried to her feet to go with them.

“Tāmāde!” Marco shouted at Ax. “Nǐ bèn dàn ma?!”

Cassie and Jake managed to wrestle him out of the galley, leaving the rest in stunned silence, staring after the way they had gone. Finally, Tobias said, “Did that really just happen?”

“Did I say something wrong?” Ax asked, genuinely concerned.

Rachel shrugged and took a large swig from her bottle. She swallowed then made a gagging noise. “Ew, fruit.”

Erek was frowning. “Based on what he said, I believe he encountered a host on the Cruiser that he did not originally realize was actually the person who they appeared to be. Presumably, someone important to him.”

Rachel snorted. “Marco doesn’t care about anyone but himself, his family, Jake, and Cassie,” she said. “And I’m pretty sure all those people are accounted for.”

“Maybe we don’t know him as well as we think,” Tobias said, still watching the door. “I mean that’s what they do, right? He’s been trained from age 12 to tell people exactly what they want or need to hear. He doesn’t have to share anything of himself that he doesn’t want to, and he very clearly hasn’t wanted to.”

Marco made it most of the way to his shuttle before vomiting over the side of the catwalk. Cassie rubbed his back and gave Jake a confused glance. Jake leaned in close to her and whispered, “His mother was on board. Some kind of commander. She tried to trick us, then she attacked us.”

“What?” Cassie hissed. “But…” And then she put it together. “Oh, honey…” She pulled Marco into her arms, and he let himself collapse into her, clutching at her waist and burying his face in her shoulder.

“Come on,” said Jake. “Let’s get him into the shuttle.”

“What are we going to do?” Cassie asked.

The look in Jake’s eyes was cold and certain. “What we have to,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cow pie = a cow poop (just in case someone doesn't know)
> 
> "Baka da yo." = "You're an asshole."
> 
> "Tāmāde!" = "Fuck you!" (This really is a catch-all swear.)  
> "Nǐ bèn dàn ma?!" = "Are you stupid?!"


End file.
